Ghost Town tells the story of a man who is bitter at the world, annoyed by other humans, and simply wishes to be alone. Throughout the course of the film however, he begins to have a change of heart, when he is literally dead for a short period of time and upon coming back to life has the ability to talk to ghosts, leading many critics to jump to the conclusion that this is a page taken straight out of the life of Ebenezer Scrooge.

 

Ricky Gervais (The Office) plays Bertram Pincus D.D.S. an overall disgruntled human being. After a trip to the hospital, Bertram starts having what he seems to believe are hallucinations, and after questioning, finds out (in possibly the funniest scene in the film) that he was dead for “seven…no about seven minutes” due to complications from his procedure. The problem enters when these hallucinations turn out to be the spirits of the dead and they all have a favor to ask from Bertram since he can mingle with both the living and deceased.

 

Bertram, who already has a hard enough time coping with the living, now has a whole new problem with the dead. Wishing it would all just go away, he reluctantly makes a deal with Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) to break up the engagement of Frank’s widow Gwen (Téa Leoni) and her new fiancée, ensuring Bertram that if he helps all of his problems with the dead will go away.

 

Although the comparison of Pincus to Scrooge isn’t unfounded I find this film to be a potpourri of many things I have seen in the past. I found bits and pieces of this film that were reminiscent to It’s a Wonderful Life, The Philadelphia Story, and unfortunately it seems the most like the dreadful television series The Ghost Whisperer. At the end of the film I certainly didn’t feel like I had seen anything new, however the dry humor and comedic wit of Gervais was enough to save this movie from worthlessness. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it because I did, but don’t expect something groundbreaking. I give it 2 ½ “R’s” out of 5.